“My house was in his way, so I can't be mad at the alligator for that,” homeowner Mary Hollenback said.
VENICE, Fla. — The person who lives next door to you might be a friendly neighbor who regularly comes to your front door just to say hi.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the scaly neighbor not only made his presence known, but also invited himself into a Venice woman's home unannounced in late March.
On March 28, FWC and Sarasota County deputies arrived at Mary Hollenbach's home on Palatka Street in Venice. That's because her girlfriend had reported that a nearly 8-foot-long alligator had gotten into her front door screen door, which was only held in place by a magnet.
Hollenbach told the Tampa Bay 10 that he was sitting in his living room watching TV around 5 p.m. that evening when he heard a knock on the front door and thought it was someone who had gotten lost.
“I thought someone was trying to get into the wrong house. I got up and went to tell them they were in the wrong house,” Hollenback said.
“…and I grabbed my cell phone that I had left on the island, went out on the balcony and called 911,” Hollenbach continued.
As authorities were on their way, the alligator slipped through the home and into the kitchen, getting wedged between the island and the stove. The improper position ultimately caused damage to Hollenback's cabinet as the animal performed a death roll as authorities tried to capture it, she said.
The Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife told Hollenback that the alligator likely came from a pond across the street from his home during the mating season that began this month and continues into June.
Hollenbach thinks it was probably headed for another pond behind her house.
Recent sightings of alligators roaming golf courses and highways are evidence that they are in heat.
“He's just an alligator, just doing what nature tells him to do,” Hollenback said. “My house was in his way, so I can't be mad at the crocodile for that.”
